Meet Michelle Martinez of Point Place, Toledo, Ohio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Martinez.

Hi Michelle, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Like most things in my life, my career as a jeweler got started a bit unconventionally. During my childhood, I was surrounded by women that ‘did for themselves’. My grandmother, a farm girl from that survived the great depression, passed down a creativity and craftiness like some families pass down jewels. I grew up learning to sew, crochet, and generally love making things. Little did I know how well this would serve me in the future.

Fast forward to just after leaving college, where I had decided to end my budding career in veterinary medicine after discovering the daunting debt that I would have to take on… I had been working in the Cellular industry for several years when the company I worked for was bought out by a larger one, and then closed completely. This was right at the begining of the Great Recession, and I was more than a year into my longest stint of unemployment in my life.

A few friends from college decided to come visit and we were drowning our sorrows, swapping ‘war stories’ from school and generally having a good (if tipsy) time in the eat in kitchen of my small apartment when one of them turned to me with a gleam in her eye and said “I have an idea!” Before I could say anything, she grabbed a small backpack, and upended it on the table with a chuckle. Out poured a half dozen pair of pliers, and several thousand colorful, small rings. “Let’s make chainmail!” she exclaimed with a grin.

Being rather inebriated as we were, all of us agreed this was a fantastic idea. As you can image, hilarity insued.

None of us had the coordination to pull off more than the most rudimentary of chainmail patterns, but we laughed and we cursed, and we ran after rings as they ‘jumped out of our pliers’ for what felt like hours. None of us made more than a few inches of anything, but it lightened what was a dark time in my life and broke down a depression I didn’t realize I had been fighting.

The following morning I woke up determined to get just ONE simple chainmail pattern down, and grabbed a pair of pliers and a handful of rings and got to work. Before I knew it, I had fallen in love with the craft. As I opened the rings, wove them into the intricate chainmail weaves and closed them again, something began to form in my mind. A connection to my past, but also a shining idea for the future.

So I wrote a business plan, and got to work and never looked back.

Now, I run a jewelry design company called Serenity in Chains full time, and have for more than a decade. Over the years I’ve taught myself not only the art of Chainmail, but also other jewelry deisgns techniques such as soldiering and cold connection work. I’ve had the pleasure of working with both budget concious clients and celebrities, locals here in Toledo and people that live on the other side of the world.

I’ve also been able to help effect change in the world through my jewelry designs, helping women (and men) find their inner confidence recapture a sense of sensual elegance.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s certainly not been a smooth road, but I’m used to jumping hurtles. Not only did I start this business at what of largley considered the worst time in history to do so, I did it with $50 in my bank account and nothing else. I’ve had to learn how to wear all the hats, and do all the things like most entreprenuers. I’ve not only had to teach myself jeweler skills, but also Website design and support, Marketing, Social Media management, and so much more.

Not to mention I have a habit of taking the path less trodden, so when I started designing more adult jewelry (namely my no piercing nipple jewelry), I ran into obstacle after obstacle. Social Media for one does NOT like the consept of anything even remotely to do with celebrating the female body, so learning how to work with and around the algorythms and rules to reach potential clients has always been a major problem. Facebook is NOTORIUS for flagging my plastic torso display as a real, nude women and blocking my content for it.

But, you continue on and just keep going!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m known for my elegant yet edgy chainmail jewelry designs. I work in all sorts of styles of jewelry, but Chainmail is where my love lays. The pattern work becomes very very intricate and beautiful, if time consuming to produce.

And if you aren’t sure what Chainmail is, it is the art of weaving small rings, called jump rings, into repeating patterns. It is the same thing they used for Knights in battle, but today we primarily use it to create jewelry. Some pieces can contain thousands of handcrafted rings!

I am always trying to blend graceful lines and forms with more gothic, bold styles. I like things in balance even when they don’t appear to be, and do a lot of assymetical work that flows with the lines of your body, and accentuates the natural beauty of every body type.

I am also known for making very very small chainmail. I do a lot of mini and micro maille. Pieces that use 3mm rings or smaller in fine metals like sterling, and niobium. But I also work in more affordable metals such as stainless steel.

And since I have a lot of metal allergies (looking at you nickel!) I am very selective about the metals I choose for my work. I only work with the best, highest grades of stainless steel, and I am very careful about my sterling silver (sterling from some countries contain filler metals that will irritate your skin). I also almost never work in anything plated, unless it’s a special request by a client looking to have a custom piece designed for them.

What matters most to you? Why?
Quality for one. When you buy a piece of jewelry from an artist, it should be something you can enjoy for years to come.

And equally as important is how my designs make people feel. I aim to create pieces that are thought provoking, yes, but also feel like a bit of armor wrapped around your soul. I want you to feel sexy, confident, and ready to take on anything when you put on a piece I have made for you!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.serenityinchains.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/serenityinchains
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/serenityinchains